Editorial

Flagmen

It astonishes me that promoters and track owners are still treating flagmen as an evil necessity rather than an essential asset. Flagmen are the most important people on the track and most if not all have no training or even the basic knowledge of what their job is, and sometimes more importantly, is not.

I’ve covered everything from AMA National Events to local Outlaw and AMA District Events and it’s the same everywhere you go. If you have a heart beat and enough strength to hold a flag, you’re a flagman. Nine times out of ten the untrained inexperienced flagmen cause more harm than good. For example, over the past month I have personally witnessed flagman being hit by a passing rider while trying to assist another rider with his bike, taking out a passing rider while playing with his flag, misdirecting riders into a crash instead of away from it, allowing a Peewee rider to hit a blind, 7 foot deep, step-down with no warning, and last but certainly not least, caused a small layover to end in a horrific three bike pile up with serious injuries by simply taking the yellow flag down 10 seconds to soon.

I’m calling for the AMA, Promoters and Track Owners to put your heads together and come up with some kind of standards for flagmen, If it’s no more than mandatory  do’s and don’ts speech prior to the race starting it will be 100% better than it is now. In the long run having properly trained Flagmen or (Safety Personal) at events will only be good for the sport. Just think how quickly the injury rate would drop, if we could take away all the incidents that involved or were attributed to flagmen mistakes.

 The following is a basic job description of a Flagmen’s responsibilities.

1. To protect both the down rider as well as the oncoming rider by vigorously waving the yellow flag and pointing to the side of the track or line the oncoming rider should take.

2. To protect the down rider from his own machine by assisting the rider “ONLY AFTER THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC HAS PASSED” Prior to assisting the rider, the flagman should stick the flag in the ground at the same point the flagman was standing. The flag should be stuck in the ground on the same side of the track as the down rider.

3. To understand that each class of rider has different skill levels therefore the flagmen must be aware of what class is on the course at all times and should adjust his or her position accordingly.  For Example: A flagman is needed on a 75 foot triple the Pro Class is jumping but once the Peewee Class is ready to race the flagmen need to adjust to cover the areas that will are hazardous to the Peewee class.

4. To be vigilant at all times.

It may take the riders to demand, oversee and force the issue of change but as a rider and a parent of a rider it's time. It’s also the responsibility of the riders to respect the yellow flags and slow down when approaching them.

Bryan Hicks
North Carolina Dirt Rider
www.ncdirtrider.com

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